Touring South Africa's Biggest Township
Dispossessed of their land during the 1800s and further reduced to virtual slavery by taxation, thousands of black men were forced to find work in the minefields of eGoli. As more and more settled in inner-city slums, the segregationist government's concerns about the proximity of blacks to white suburbs grew until, in 1930, a solution was found. A farm 18km (11 miles) to the southwest of Johannesburg was designated as the new township, and blacks living in and around the city were served with eviction papers. It would now take 3 hours to get to work. There were as yet no roads, no shops, no parks, no electricity, no running water. Public transport and policing were hopelessly inadequate. Not surprisingly, most people refused to move, but in 1933 the government declared the Slums Clearance Act and forcibly evicted blacks from the inner cities. Defeated, these new homeless moved in, and Soweto, acronym for the South Western Township, was born, just 18km (11 miles) from Johannesburg. In 1944 James Mpanza led a mass occupation of open land near Orlando, the original heart of Soweto, and within 2 years, this, the country's first unofficial squatter camp, housed 40,000 people. Rural poverty meant that Soweto remained a magnet for millions searching for a better standard of living, and today Soweto is arguably South Africa's largest city and home to soccer heroes and politicos, record producers and shebeen queens, multimillionaires and the unemployed, murderers and Nobel Peace Prize winners. As the country prepares to host the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, nowhere is development more essential than in Soweto, widely considered the emotional heart of Jozi. Local government has promised to stop pumping money into developments in the north and give focus to the upgrade of facilities and transport for the estimated 3.5 million people of Soweto (although those in the know say it's closer to five million). Here, Soccer City, a massive new stadium where the opening game of the tournament is to be held, is under construction, while an ugly power station that's been standing defunct since the 1980s will be converted into a museum fashioned on London's Tate Gallery; apparently, visitors will be able to bungee-jump from the massive cooling towers. More good news is that while 16,000 trees were planted here in 2006, a further 300,000 have been promised by 2009. And, as Soweto's earning capacity grows, so do its spending channels; September 2007 saw the opening of Maponya Mall (named after Richard Maponya, Soweto's first millionaire), where a whole new generation of glam-setters can fork out their hard-earned cash on global brands and Westernized fast food. While shack dwellers are steadily being relocated to more substantial brick abodes, properties in upmarket Diepkloof Extension 1 (colloquially known as Diepkloof "Exclusive" or "Expensive") include mansions worth R3.5 million; as you drive through the neighborhoods admiring the kitsch side of Soweto chic (plenty of face-brick topped by unwieldy satellite dishes, not to mention a mélange of pink, orange, and salmon-colored structures), you'll notice perfectly manicured gardens and the occasional BMW. Although many houses are now protected by security companies, it's tough community justice that seems to keep crime at bay; so terrifying is the prospect of being punished by community vigilantism, that petty burglars have been known to turn themselves over to official police.
Despite all the healthy reports, very few white South Africans venture here for pleasure, despite the warm welcome Sowetans are famous for and the fact that the few umlungu (whitey) inhabitants of Soweto say they feel safer here than in the suburbs. That's not to say crime is not still a potential threat; for safety and real insight, Soweto is best visited accompanied by a knowledgeable guide, who will not only give a real sense of its history but help you understand its ongoing evolution. Most operators cover similar ground: the Mandela Museum, where Madiba once lived; a stop at the Hector Pieterson Memorial; a drive down Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world to have housed two Nobel Prize winners; Freedom Square, where the ANC's Freedom Charter was proclaimed to thousands in 1956; and the Regina Mundi Church, the "Parliament of Soweto," where the bullet-marked walls are witness to ex-security-police brutality. The best tour I've had was with Bongani Ndlovu of Soweto.co.za (also their website address, where you can book your full-day tour; tel. 011/326-1700); intelligent, highly knowledgeable, and great fun to tour with, Ndlovu should be requested specifically. A full-day tour, with a pickup in Rosebank, costs R550 ($78/£40), and includes lunch at Wandie's, a drink at a shebeen, and all museum charges. If you're up for a party, ask about nighttime shebeen tours, usually limited to weekends. (Note that this operator is highly involved in community projects, so your ticket fee will help change lives.) Other operators offering personalized experiences include Imbizo Tours (tel. 011/838-2667 or 083/700-9098; www.imbizotours.co.za), and long-standing Sowetan resident Stella Dubazana (tel. 082/488-1660), who offers private tours on arrangement. The downside of driving around in a bus armed with a camera is the sense that you are treating people like animals in a reserve. For this reason, you are encouraged to get out of the vehicle and talk to the people on the street. It is, after all, a sense of community that distinguishes Soweto life from that in Jo'burg or Tshwane.
